Jason Pierre-Paul joked that after his first sack, he told Eli Manning, "Get up. Stop falling," before helping him up. He said, "Coming back here, [there] were a lot of memories" and that the people he met made that experience special.
Bucs quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick said he was proud of the way Jameis Winston played. "It's not easy to do. It's not easy to not have any preparation and working with the scout team and [being] thrown in there in the middle of the game."
Bucs wide receiver DeSean Jackson: "I feel like a lot of guys on this team fight, put their best foot forward. But we've just gotta have more guys out there, I guess, with heart...We can't keep being the team on the other side of the ball that's always losing."
Saquon Barkley ran for a career-high 142 yards and scored three touchdowns as the New York Giants held off the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 38-35 on Sunday to win consecutive games for the first time since December 2016.
Bucs tight end O.J. Howard suffered a right ankle injury after being tackled from behind. He was down on the field for several seconds but was able to walk off under his own power. The team says his return is doubtful.
The Buccaneers have gone back to Jameis Winston at quarterback after Ryan Fitzpatrick struggled.
Jameis Winston has replaced Ryan Fitzpatrick in the third quarter against the Giants after Fitzpatrick threw three interceptions on three-straight drives.
This game is starting to feeling a lot like Cincinnati with Jameis Winston -- Ryan Fitzpatrick was just picked off for the third time today, this time in the end zone by Curtis Riley. So guess what? Winston is now warming up on the sideline.
Before fans could even return to their seats at MetLife Stadium, Ryan Fitzpatrick was pick-sixed by Alec Ogletree on a pass deflected by Janoris Jenkins. Fitzpatrick tried to force a pass to DeSean Jackson. Make that SEVEN turnovers for Fitzpatrick since Week 9.
The Bucs' hopes of scoring before halftime were dashed with 15 seconds to go -- Ryan Fitzpatrick was picked off by Michael Thomas at the Giants' 13 on a pass intended for O.J. Howard, who was well-covered. That was his 11th pick this season. Turnovers have been a big reason the coaching staff has gone with Fitzpatrick over Jameis Winston, but Fitzpatrick now has six turnovers since Week 9, more than any other player in the league. Does this warrant another QB change? Possibly. But I don't know if they get much different from Winston.
The Bucs went for it again on fourth down, and despite a broken-down play, Ryan Fitzpatrick was able to dive across the goal line to score. Cairo Santos' first career extra point attempt -- good. The Bucs have cut into the Giants' lead 14-7 with 4:56 to go in the first half. The Bucs have had issues all season getting behind early on the road. They trailed 14-0 to start this game. They trailed 14-0 at Carolina and trailed 21-0 at Cincinnati.
Jason Pierre-Paul just sacked Eli Manning for his ninth sack of the season. Pierre-Paul is now just one sack away from reaching 10 for the season -- the Bucs haven't had a double-digit sack player since Simeon Rice in 2005.
The Bucs' offense -- playing at almost 100 percent -- couldn't muster one yard on a quarterback sneak on fourth-and-1, and the defense just surrendered 95 yards in 12 plays on the Giants' second scoring drive. Mind you, they're playing a 2-7 team that is winless at home this season.
When Saquon Barkley can take a toss pitch going one way and change directions to get quickly to the outside the other way, that's when you really miss a player like Lavonte David, who is so strong sideline-to-sideline and always finishes.
After surrendering a touchdown to Saquon Barkley on the opening possession, the Bucs went for it on fourth-and-1 at the Giants' 5-yard line with a quarterback sneak. The push wasn't great. They're now 0-1 in the red zone today. They were 0-5 last week with 501 yards and just three points.
I asked Pat Shurmur if he thought Saquon Barkley was a "generational" type player. He wouldn't go that far yet, but Gerald McCoy (pictured) did. "Nobody has figured it out. I don't think anybody will figure it out – he's one of those guys, generational guys. We've just got to attack him and make sure we get him on the ground. We can't trust that one person is going to get him down."
Lots of fans shouting "JPP!" during warmups. His message this week? "Eli, I'm coming for ya!" He's been the one bright spot on a struggling Bucs defense. In fact, with 8.0 sacks this season, he's got an excellent shot to break the Bucs' 10-sack season drought after 12 years.
Tackling is paramount for the Bucs today. Saquon Barkley has 440 yards after contact from scrimmage, third-most of any running back in the league. 62 running backs in this league don't even have that many yards from scrimmage, period.
One miss this morning from new Bucs kicker Cairo Santos — was from 50+ yards and didn't have quite enough juice. He made the very next one from a similar distance though. Looked strong.
Hard Knocks star Riley Bullough aka "Joe Dirt" is expected to make his first-ever NFL start today against the Giants due to a rash of injuries that have left the Bucs' linebackers without a single original starter.
Inactives for the Bucs vs the Giants: QB Ryan Griffin, S Justin Evans, RB Ronald Jones II , CB M.J. Stewart, LB Lavonte David, OL Alex Cappa and DE Vinny Curry.
Buccaneers offensive coordinator Todd Monken will call plays Sunday against the Giants, head coach Dirk Koetter announced.
| TEAM | W | L | T | PCT | PF | PA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| New Orleans | 9 | 1 | 0 | .900 | 378 | 239 |
| Carolina | 6 | 4 | 0 | .600 | 260 | 252 |
| Atlanta | 4 | 6 | 0 | .400 | 263 | 276 |
| Tampa Bay | 3 | 7 | 0 | .300 | 267 | 329 |
| RD(PK) | PLAYER | POS | SCHOOL |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1(12) | Vita Vea | DT | Washington |
| 2(6) | Ronald Jones II | RB | USC |
| 2(21) | M.J. Stewart | CB | North Carolina |
| 2(31) | Carlton Davis | CB | Auburn |
| 3(30) | Alex Cappa | OT | Humboldt State |
| 4(17) | Jordan Whitehead | S | Pittsburgh |
| 5(7) | Justin Watson | WR | Pennsylvania |
| 6(28) | Jack Cichy | ILB | Wisconsin |
